Displaying posts published in

July 2018

The GOP’s Clean Bills of Health Savings Modest improvements in HSAs deserve votes in the Senate.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-gops-clean-bills-of-health-savings-1532895810

The Senate plans to stay in Washington for August this year, and here’s an idea to keep busy: Pass some House health-care reforms that are modest improvements even Democrats should like.

The House last week passed a set of bills that included changes in Health Savings Accounts, or HSAs, which are tax preferred accounts that allow individuals to save for future medical expenses. More than 20 million people have HSAs, which Congress created in 2003, but arbitrary restrictions cramp enrollment.

For one, a person has to be on a plan with a high deductible. A plan can’t cover certain services below the deductible like telemedicine or diabetic test strips, which can save costs over time. HSA money also can’t buy over-the-counter medicine, which is often cheaper than prescription drugs.

HSAs tend to be concentrated in the employer-sponsored or large group market, where insurance is likely to be available and comprehensive. But in the individual market less than 30% of ObamaCare plans are compatible with a health-savings account, according to an analysis from health consultant Roy Ramthun. The rest have deductibles too low (13.7%) or out-of-pocket maximums too high (56.6%) to comport with restrictions.

The Left Is Working Overtime to Normalize Fascism By Matt Margolis

https://pjmedia.com/trending/the-left-is-working-overtime-to-normalize-fascism/

It is hard to believe that the president of the United States is often accused of being a fascist by the same people who advocate harassing, assaulting, and censoring his supporters. But, that is exactly what is going on now. The political left is labeling anything conservative as hateful, bigoted, racist, sexist, homophobic, etc., to justify un-American suppression of non-left-wing views.

Freedom of speech is an essential American value, and restrictions on free speech aren’t likely to sit well with a majority of the American people. But, Democrats have a found a loophole: let privately-owned companies do the censoring. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter have long been accused of anti-conservative bias. Earlier this year, Facebook temporarily prevented my ability to promote my new book. A couple of months ago, they demanded personal information from me in order for me to have the “privilege” of paying to promote my books. I have chosen not to give them any information that could potentially be misused.

I’ve had better luck on Twitter, but Hispanic science fiction author Jon Del Arroz has experienced repeated censorship there.

“Leftists have been successful in targeting me on Twitter every time I’ve reached new heights in my writing career,” he told PJ Media. “When I hit #1 Amazon Bestseller, Twitter gave me a notice within 30 minutes as if I was permanently banned, giving me no reason, but the account became unlocked a few minutes later.”

Del Arroz recently launched a comic book crowd-funding project on Indiegogo called Flying Sparks and found that his self-promotion on Twitter was met with a coordinated attack by left-wing authors who reported his tweets en masse. “I didn’t violate Twitter’s Terms of Service, but now I’m suspended for a week and can’t promote my project to my nearly 5,000 followers just as it’s gaining momentum,” he said.

Google is no exception either. Last year, PJ Media contributor Megan Fox found her YouTube channel demonetized after Rush Limbaugh read one of her columns on his radio show. This was by no means an isolated incident, as YouTube had been targeting conservative content creators long before that.

But throttling conservatives on social media isn’t enough for the radical left. The vice chairman of the Democratic National Committee, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-Minn.), recently wrote to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, accusing him of profiting off the sales of materials he considers “racist” or linked to “hate groups.” What exactly does Ellison mean by “hate groups”? For Ellison, he trusts the wisdom of the embattled Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC). Despite its history, in recent years the SPLC has become a tool of leftists to brand conservative groups “hate groups.”

Tucker Carlson recently and accurately described it as “a left-wing political group that uses ‘hate crime’ designations to target its ideological enemies and to crush people.” Several years ago they targeted the Value Voters Summit and its primary sponsor, Family Research Council for being “bigots” and “haters.” Why? Because they believe in traditional marriage and that homosexuality is a sin. The SPLC haphazard tossing around the “hate group” label has gotten them into some serious trouble. The SPLC recently agreed to a $3 million court settlement after falsely listing Muslim reformer Maajid Nawaz, in its 2016 “Field Guide to Anti-Muslim Extremists.” Nawaz is a practicing Muslim. Following the settlement, at least 60 organizations branded as “hate groups” by the SPLC are considering legal action against the left-wing organization. CONTINUE AT SITE

Nunes: American People ‘Will Be Shocked’ by What’s in Redacted Portion of FISA Application By Debra Heine

https://pjmedia.com/video/nunes-american-people-will-be-shocked-by-whats-in-redacted-portion-of-fisa-application/
House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes said Sunday that the American people will be “shocked” when they see what’s in the still-redacted portions of the FBI’s applications for surveillance warrants against former Trump campaign adviser Carter Page.

“We are quite confident that once the American people see these 20 pages, at least for those that will get real reporting on this issue, they will be shocked by what’s in that FISA application,” Nunes said in an interview with Fox Business’ Maria Bartiromo.

Nunes and other House Republicans have been urging President Trump to declassify what remains hidden in 20 pages of the FISA application.

“I think his lawyers are looking at this to see if they can declassify it sooner rather than later,” said Nunes (R-Calif.) during an interview on “Sunday Morning Futures.” “But the sooner this comes out, the better off we all are because what I’ve said is what’s left that’s redacted, the American people really need to know what’s underneath it.”

After the Department of Justice released portions of the four FISA applications, Democrats claimed that the most damaging information about Page was found in the redacted parts.

“If you look at what they were saying… ‘oh, but the really juicy stuff that proves collusion and how bad Carter Page really was and how they were colluding with Russians — that’s what’s redacted!'”

He said the liberal media changed their tune when they found out that Republicans on the House Intel Committee were trying to get those portions unredacted.

“You hear crickets. You hear nothing,” Nunes said.

Nunes said about 70 to 75 percent of the FISA material was redacted.

“What’s left that’s redacted, the American people really do need to know what’s underneath there,” the congressman said, adding that the Democrats don’t want the truth out there. CONTINUE AT SITE

You’ll never believe the latest argument against Brexit coming from the EU: Thomas Lifson

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/07/youll_never_believe_the_latest_argument_against_brexit_coming_from_the_eu.html

It turns out that Brexit is just like global warming: it causes everything bad known to man. At least if you ask the European Union. Patrick Grafton-Green reports in the UK Evening Standard:

Infectious diseases such as super-gonorrhoea could spread more rapidly if the UK leaves the European Union, health chiefs have warned.

Britain is said to be under “significant threat” from such diseases after Brexit if the government doesn’t work out a way of maintaining a close working relationship with European health bodies.

Cough! Has anyone ever heard of the World Health Organization? It’s not as if the EU is the only way that heath officials can share data.

This is pure BS, and a sign of desperation.

Stay tuned for more absurd predictions of doom from Brexit.